by Gail Dayton
"Death," she said, struggling to make her thoughts obey. "And life. We saw--your friend is dead. We're not. You just want to--to spit in death's eye. Celebrate living."
"I've wanted you a hell of a lot longer than today." Eli closed his eyes as Marilyn caressed him. "And I'm not sure I care what your motivations are. I want more than just a one-time pity fuck, but if that's all I'm going to get, I'll take it. God, Marilyn--"
He dove back in for another kiss, this one hotter, more steam than sweetness. His arm behind her moved down, pulled her in until her breasts plumped against his chest. And all the while that hand of hers kept exploring his state of arousal.
She couldn't think any more. Didn't want to think. Thinking would get her into trouble. Or was it not thinking that did that? She didn't know, didn't care. Didn't think she cared, anyway.
Eli bore her down onto the bed, his leg cast scraping the foldout mechanism as he turned to bring the other one up over hers. He pulled her hand away and pressed his erection hard into her hip, dropping his head on her shoulder as he panted. "It's been too long," he said. "I want you too much. Give me a second."
She couldn't stop touching him. Her hand slid up into his light brown hair, ruffling its silky softness, and down across his shoulders. He shifted position, kissing her shoulder, and his leg cast banged on metal again. The reminder of his injuries helped her think, but didn't bring her back to her senses. Her senses were too saturated with Eli.
"Wait." She pushed at him, shoving him off her.
Eli groaned. "Marilyn, no. Please." But he moved as she asked, falling onto his back sideways on the bed with another mighty groan. "You're going to kill me."
Marilyn sat up and scooted across the bed, tugging Eli with her. "Come up here. Straight in the bed, so you don't get any more scrapes or bruises." She picked up his broken leg and set it on the bed as Eli moved, a wary hope in his expression.
"Okay." He lay flat on his back, shifting his hips as if wanting to be sure she remembered the erection tenting his shorts. As if she could forget. "Now what?"
Now what, indeed. Seeing him laid out before her like some smorgasbord of erotic delights, Marilyn couldn't decide what she ought to do. Lie down and go to sleep, probably. But that wasn't what she wanted to do, so she tossed all the oughts out the window.
She didn't want a one-time pity fuck either. That was why she'd hesitated so long, because she found it so hard to believe Eli was offering anything else. But if he wanted more and she wanted more too... Oh hell, why worry about it now?
Marilyn moved one knee between Eli's and he spread his legs to accommodate her, spreading them wider so she could kneel there. His eyes darkened, blazing with intensity as he watched her. She leaned forward, setting her hands on his thighs. The new cast bared his knee, so she could touch more of him, and she touched to her heart's content.
She trailed her fingers through the coarse hair on his legs, smiling as his thigh muscles contracted and relaxed. Bit by bit, she slid her hands higher, beneath the hem of his shorts to trace her thumbs along the line where his legs joined his body.
Eli held his hands out to her, beckoning her. Marilyn just smiled. She lowered her face toward his stomach and right before her lips touched skin, he caught her, stopped her. "Much as I'd love for you to do that," his voice rasped out, "I don't think I can take it. Not now."
Marilyn kept her body curled over, lifting only her head so she could see him. "I was only going to kiss you. Here." She traced a small circle with her finger around his navel.
Again she dipped her head, and again he interposed his cast and hand to block her way. "I know," he said. "I don't think I can take it."
"Just a little kiss?" She teased him, blowing on his stomach through his fingers.
"God, Marilyn--" He sat up, lifting her as he did, and kissed her--twice, three times as hot as he'd kissed her before. His hand went to the neckline of her gown, wrestling with the row of tiny buttons running partway down the front.
"Let me." She sat back on her heels and unbuttoned the buttons. She could scarcely believe the avid interest in his eyes as he watched, leaning back on his functional elbow. But she had to believe it. She could see it.
When they were undone, her gown gaped open halfway down her body. Now Marilyn really wished for those room-darkening shades. She was almost forty, for crying out loud. And Eli...wasn't.
He lay back on the pillows and held his hand out to her. "Come here."
Hesitant, feeling every minute, every second of her age, Marilyn did as he asked. She started to move to the side, out from between his legs, but he shook his head. She didn't want to lean forward on her hands like before. He'd be able to look right down her gown at everything she wished she could hide from him.
"Marilyn--" Her name growled from his throat.
Eli lunged up from the bed, whipping his arm around her and tumbling her down with him. "God, don't back out on me now."
"I wasn't. I just--" The rest of her feeble excuse was swallowed up in a devouring kiss.
She could feel the heat of his arousal pressing hard and thick into her stomach as she lay over him, stunned by his fierce passion. His tongue plunged deep into her mouth, lips possessing the rest. His good hand pushed her gown off her shoulder, stroking the bared skin beneath it. The fingers of his other hand started pulling her gown up until her bottom was uncovered.
He urged her higher, kissing his way down her neck. He nudged the open sides of her gown out of the way with his nose until he could kiss the rising slope of her breasts. Marilyn gasped and he cupped her breast in his hand. Sliding his thumb back and forth over the tip, he alternated his gaze between his hand and her face. "Do you like that?"
Marilyn nodded, trembling.
"Maybe you'll like this, then." Eli pushed her gown to the side, baring her other breast, lifted his head and licked his tongue over her nipple.
A moan whirled through the room. Had it come from her? Must have. Eli's talented tongue made her hot and cold and quivery all at once. It flicked her nipple, teasing, then slid over it flat and soothing, then swirled around it in seductive circles. Her legs parted, slid to either side of his body, and Eli's groan vibrated against her breast as her heat settled over his.
He burrowed his face between her breasts and held her tight, panting like he'd just run a race. "God, I want you."
Marilyn cradled his head against her. "Then have me."
Leaning forward, her weight on one elbow, she reached back with her other hand and worked her ugly nylon panties off. She didn't want him to see them anyway.
"What are you doing?" Eli asked, voice muffled by the breasts he was busy kissing.
"What do you think I'm doing?" She caught the waistline of his knit shorts, then decided she could do better if she could see what she was doing.
"I think you're undressi--where are you going?" he asked as she sat up.
"To undress you." Marilyn grabbed his shorts and pulled them down as far as his knees. She didn't want to bother with wrestling things over casts right now.
Still straddling him, she walked on her knees back up his body, until she could sense his heat warming her most intimate parts. She lowered herself over him, fitting his length into her slick channel between her folds, his tip nudging her sweet spot.
"Oh shit, Marilyn, wait!" Eli cried out even as his hips pushed up to meet her. "Wait--oh fuck, that feels so good--wait. Protection. Condom. In my wallet."
"All in due time." She smiled, feeling suddenly all woman. His reaction sent little thrills tumbling through her, assuring her that he truly did want this. "Just lie back and relax."
"Relax? How the fuck can I re--oh God, Marilyn--" His protest stopped abruptly when she moved, rubbing herself against him. "I can't take this. I won't last."
"Try," she said without mercy, and moved again. It felt good to her too. It had been so long. No wonder she'd become this strange, demanding creature. "And if you don't--you're young. Plenty of comeback. So we can just
try again later."
"Oh, fuck," he whispered. He threw his broken arm up over his head, almost braining himself with the cast. He reached for her with the other, then apparently had second thoughts and sent it above his head to grip the pillows too.
Marilyn rode him, rubbing herself against the tip of his penis until her breath came as harsh and fast as his. She watched his face, aroused all the more by the strain she saw there, by his tongue flicking out to wash over dry lips, by the involuntary flutter of half-closed eyelids. She leaned forward, brushing the breasts he'd bared against his chest, and Eli's hand flew up to caress.
He licked his lips again. "Maybe we should--just in case--get it out? The condom--" He bucked his hips against her, then shuddered and swore as he forced himself to lie still.
"Maybe." She didn't sound any steadier than he did. "Later." She kissed his neck, found the scratchy line where his day-old beard began. It had been so long. He felt so good.
"Fuck, Marilyn, I can't--"
And she fell off the cliff, her whole body spasming in long-denied pleasure. Not enough. She needed more, needed him--
She raised her hips, felt him spring up into place, and pushed down, taking him inside her. He slid deep, hard, filling all her empty places.
"Marilyn, stop--" Eli cried.
But she couldn't. And then he couldn't.
She felt him explode inside her, his pulses timing with hers, intensifying them, making them linger. Finally she collapsed boneless on top of him. He put his arms around her and held her, gasping for breath. Her eyes drifted shut and she pursed her lips to kiss the shoulder not quite out of reach.
The tiny kiss seemed to electrify him. Eli pushed her off and sat straight up in bed. "Are you crazy? Are you out of your fucking mind? What were you thinking, doing it bareback like that? Do you have a fucking death wish?"
Marilyn pushed her hair out of her eyes and the hem of her gown down over her legs, not quite sure how to react to his outburst. She didn't particularly like being yelled at after such an intimate, wonderful moment. And yet the reason behind his yelling...
"I guess I wasn't," she said. "Thinking, I mean."
"Obviously." Eli hauled his shorts up from his knees, lay back and lifted his hips to get them the rest of the way up.
"You said you don't have anything. Your test said it."
"There's always a chance, Marilyn. Sometimes stuff doesn't show up right away. And what if I got you pregnant?"
"Wrong time of the month for that." She bit her lip, feeling incredibly stupid.
"Yeah? Well, I hope so." He turned his back on her.
Marilyn felt tears gather. "I didn't mean to, I just--"
Eli glanced over his shoulder at her, dropped whatever it was he was doing and pulled her into his arms. "God, whatever you do, don't cry. I don't do tears, remember? I didn't mean to yell. I just--God, it felt so good. Amazing. Incredible. You and me, with nothing between us--"
He paused and took a deep breath. Marilyn sniffled.
"Please don't do that," he said. "Not crying. Not the other either." He fumbled for something on the bedside table and pressed a small plastic packet into her hand. A condom. "If you're not so mad at me you never want me touching you again, then take this. Use it. I'll get more. That is, if--"
"Amazing? Really?" She swallowed away the lump in her throat. He was serious about protecting her. And he wanted to do it again.
"God, yes." He kissed her forehead, raised up and kissed her damp eyelids, her cheeks, her mouth. After a long, sweet sip, he collapsed back onto his pillow. "Incredible. Fantastic. Amazing."
"You said that already."
His fingers slid up and down her shoulder beneath her gown, taking advantage of its still-unbuttoned state. "So what? It deserves saying twice. Three times. You're amazing."
Marilyn let her hand settle on his chest, fingers playing with the dusting of brown hair. She couldn't have held the obstinate thing back much longer anyway. "So are you."
He brushed his jaw along her forehead. "Does that mean you want...?"
"To do it again?" That feeling of feminine power rushed over her again. "Maybe. After I get some sleep. Wake me up this afternoon and find out."
"Marilyn--" He began a protest.
"Eli--" she retorted, rolling onto her side, her back to him, bottom snug against his hip. "I'm sleeping now."
He rolled over too, spooning against her, a fresh erection prodding her bottom. He pulled her gown up to her waist and sniggled in closer, fingertips and cast brushing lightly over her bare hip. "Are you sure you want to sleep?"
"Positive."
"Too bad." His fingers roved everywhere they could reach, which wasn't far. "I'll be glad when this thing comes off and I can hold you with two hands."
"Sleep." She did her best to sound like a television hypnotist.
"Bossy woman."
"You love it and you know it."
"Does this make me your love slave?"
"Do you want to be?"
"Do you want me to be?" He kissed the nape of her neck, rolling his hips into her.
"Go to sleep, Eli." She was too tired for his antics.
"What if I can't?" He touched his tongue to her shoulder.
"Then lie there and watch me sleep. I'm really tired, Eli."
"I'd rather hold you."
"Fine. Whatever. I'm sleeping."
"Doesn't sound like sleeping to me. Sounds like talking."
"Eli?"
"Yes, Marilyn?"
"Shut up."
With a chuckle, he finally did as she asked, burrowing his face into her hair so he breathed on her neck, giving her goosebumps. Almost as soon as he went still, he fell asleep. Marilyn eased back closer to him and followed.
Something felt strange when Eli wallowed back to consciousness. Something other than the dim afternoon light slanting through the closed blinds and sheer curtains. He wasn't used to sleeping during the day any more, but that wasn't it. He'd fallen asleep wrapped around Marilyn and now she seemed to be wrapped around him. Both of those things were unusual occurrences, but they felt good, not strange.
That was when he figured it out. He was happy. Or maybe happy wasn't the right word for it. Happy was a kid with an ice cream cone or a girl with new shoes. It lasted till the ice cream melted and the new wore off. This was more. Deeper.
Because, despite everything, even Teresa's death and the likelihood of Flash's continuing threat, even knowing this moment and moments like it couldn't last, he still felt it. Contentment. Peace. Joy. Whatever the hell it was called. He'd never felt this way in his life. At least, not since his childhood ended when he was ten. No wonder it felt so strange.
He turned over, toward Marilyn. She muttered something into his shoulder, her hand sliding down his chest to the bed. He wanted to watch her sleep, but she was too close. Of course, he wouldn't mind too much if she woke up.
Careful not to touch her with his cast, Eli began pulling her gown higher. She hadn't put her panties back on, after. He wished he'd taken his shorts off then, instead of pulling them back up. Naked would definitely be better now. But she'd shocked--and scared--him so bad when she forgot the condom.
Being inside her without anything between them, naked, natural, skin-to-skin, had been so abso-fucking-lutely fabulous he hadn't been able to control himself. He hoped like hell he hadn't given her anything, from a disease to a baby. It couldn't happen again. Ever.
Thinking about it now made him reach back to the lamp table for the packet he'd kept. He tucked it under the pillow, in case she wasn't in the mood, and began kissing her awake.
She was cute as hell, all grumbly and sleepy, responding to his kisses as if she couldn't help herself. It had him on edge in an instant. He'd intended to take it slow, make love to her with all the expertise he'd learned, but her little whimpers and mumbles as she moved imploded all his good intentions. He barely managed to cover himself before he was inside her.
Marilyn wrapped her legs arou
nd his hips, her eyes still closed, and met each of his thrusts with one of her own. "Mmm, Eli," she breathed, running her hands down his back, then doing it again, scratching him lightly with her nails.
Eli shuddered, moving faster, wondering if he could make her come before he did. He wanted to. He needed to.
He blanked his mind, trying to shut out everything but the need to make it last. The feel of her tight around him, the sound of her voice in his ears kept breaking down the barriers. Time passed. How much, he didn't know. His whole world was the woman in his arms, crying out, clutching at him, calling his name. He groaned, fighting the inevitable. Just as he lost the battle, Marilyn gasped and they fell over the edge together.
He collapsed on top of her for a second before rolling to the side and taking her with him.
"Do you--" Marilyn tried to speak through her gasping breath. "--plan on--doing this often?"
"Every chance I--get." Eli gasped back. He smoothed her hair back from her face the best he could. "I want to make love to you every way I know how, and then invent more ways."
He'd always been a lay-it-all-out-on-the-table kind of guy, but as Marilyn stared at him open-mouthed, he wondered if maybe he ought to reconsider that policy.
"W-well," she finally stammered. "I guess we'd better think about buying more condoms."
It took a second before her meaning slammed into him and that strange feeling got happier and brighter. He couldn't stop the dopey grin on his face. "I guess we better."
Dark had fallen again by the time they managed to eat and dress and get out of the apartment on their purchasing mission. Given that dark fell before five o'clock this time of year, that wasn't saying much. It would have been later, except Eli used the last condom making love to Marilyn standing up against the bathroom door when she got out of the shower.
Not the smartest thing he'd ever done, considering he still had a cast on one leg, but it worked. Nobody fell down. Nobody broke anything else, and this time Marilyn screamed when she came, which made him feel shockingly good.
